Drier.



R. K. MEADE.

DRIER.

APPLIOATION FILED DB0.15,1908.

937,255. Patented oet. 19,1909.

i 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

W/r'f/VESSES I W Allomey R. K. MEADE.

l DRIRE. APPLICATION IILD DBO.15.1908.

Patented Oct. 19, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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W N \m m NK m w\ K NT mm mm K Q mm mm m ww mm m w UNITED strArEs PATENT oEEioE.

RICHARD K. MEADE, 0F NAZAIRETH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF T0 JAMES W; FULLER, JR., 0E CATASAUQUA. PENNSYLVANIA.

Damn.

spleciaationpf Letters Patent.

Patented Oct; 19,1909.

` application ileclA December 1 5, 1908. Serial No. L137,673.

To all 'whom 'it 'may concern.'

Be -it known that I, RICHARD K. MEADE, a citizen of the United' States, residing at Nazareth, inthe county of Northampton `and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Driers,.of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to driers, and more particularly. to those of the rotary type l TheIprimary object of the invention is to provide a novel, simple, and. practicable structure in which the material to be dried is'protected from direct contact with the heating medium, while the latter is' at its highest temperature, Zand when the temperature of such heating medium has been reduced to a safe limit on account of the absorption of heat, b the material acted upon, then said ymedium 1s brought into direct contact with thematerial and acts as a conveyer to carry oli' the moisture extracted from the material.

A further and important object is to provide, a structure in which the material acted upon is divided Vup into a number 'of comparatively small streams, thus insuring more effective treatment than ore `body of -comparatively great bulk could possibly have and securing great economyin operation.

Still another object is to provide a structure in which the products of combustion from a re are employed as a heating and drylng medium, to so arrange said structure that a proper draft for said products o combustion is at all times, assured.

All embodiment ofv th'einvention that is at present considered the preferred form` of construction, is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein-l .Figure 1 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the upper portion ofthe structure, and Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are respectively vertical, transverse, sectional views on the lines -a-a, bb, and c--c, of Fig. 1.

In the embodiment of the invention dis closed, a furnace is employed, that may be of any desiredcharacter and has a circular opening 7 in one wall thereof.v One end of a revoluble drum 8 is located in said opening, the other end bein revolubly engaged in a4 non-rotatable hoo 9. vThis drum is openended land is preferably disposed at an inclinatlon. Its ends are so arranged in the the chamber 12.

`witha suitable girth gear 19, wit

wallsof the furnace and hood that practi-l cally none of the products of combustion from the furnace can escape past them; 1n

other words, said ends are. substantially sealed in the walls, consequently, the'pro u cts of combustion from the furnace must pass. longitudinally through the drum.

Located longitudinally within said drum, and revoluble therewith, are a plurality of material conveying tubes, 10, 'an number of which may be employed as desired. These tubes are preferably. spaced from one an- ,other,fand also spaced from the drum by suitable holding devices 11.l The tubes 10 are also open-ended, thus communicating at their lower -ends with the interior of the hood 9, their upper end portions projecting from the upper end of the drum 8, extending across the interior of the portions and being connected with a lfeeding chamber 12,'

arranged exteriorly of the furnace. This feeding chamber is common to all the tubes and has an open rear or upper end in which is preferably placed a retaining ange 13, The open end of the chamber `12 enters the base 14, 'of a stack 15 or other Adevice to carry off the products of combustion as hereiriafter explained. Suitable means are elnployed for delivering material to be dried into the chamber 12. In the present embodiment, this means is shown in the form of a chute `16, that extends downwardlyl into the base`14 of the stack, and projects into Any other desired means may be employed. The rotatable member of the drier consisting of the drum 8, the'tubesJ 10, and the chamber 12, is suitably support ed, for instance, by rollers 17 which run u on tracks 18, securedto the end portions o said member. The drum is also rovided which driving mechanism,

any suitable the hood 9 is located a delivery screw 20, or

vother device of an analogous character.

The operation of thedrier may be briefly- 'described, as follows: It is revolved at a slow rate of speed and the material to be dried is -fed downwardly through the chute 16. into (not shown) ma mesh. In the lower portion of agitators 21. Y The-heat to dry the material i Iis generated by the combustion of sultable. fuel in the furnace 6, and the hot gases and products of combustion passing longitudinally through the drum 8, exteriorly ofthe tubes l0, completely surround the 'same as will be evident. When however, the said 'products of combustion enter the hood 9,

their direction isA reversed, and they pass backwardly through the interiors of said tubes 10, through the feeding chamber-12,

and to the open air through the stack 15.

l In passing along the exterior of the tubes, the hot gases give 'or transmit a certainL amount of their heat through the walls of the tubes, to the material Within the same'. This serves to partially dry the materlal, and also to cool somewhat the heated gases,con

sequentlywhenrsuch gasescome into contact,

' tubes, thus spreading it more thoroughly and permitting a'more thorough application of the heat. This insures economy 1n opera- -tions by allowing the closest contact between the material and the heatingmedium.

There is another feature of very considerable importance. It will be evident that in the structure as disclosed, the passage of the heating medium through the drum and tubes,

is secured solely by the natural draft. I

- have discovered that in order to secure the most effective draft, it is very essential that the combined cross sectional areas of the.,

bores of the tubes be at least as great as the cross sectional area of the spacewithin the drum, exteriorlyof'said tubes, ,so that the channel t-hrou h which the products of combustion pass, 1s substantially the same from the furnace to the feeding chamber. 1

A further feature of importance is the fact that, by the`rotat'ion of the drum, the

hot gases are caused to pass therethrough in a spira-l flow, which produces uniform slmultaneous heating of the tubes. Otherwise the hottest gases from the furnace would rise to the to of the drum, and the tubes would b heate one after the other.

Having fully described my invention, I claim:

1. In adrying apparatusv of the character set forth, the combination with a furnace of a rotatable drier drum, having one end .communicatingv with the furnace and receivlng the products of combustion therefrom, a ma.

teria-l feeding tube located longitudinally within-the drum, kand rotatable therewith,- said tube having no direct communication with thefurnace, but having one end in connection with the end of the drum opposite to that which communicates with the furnace, and means for delivering material into the end of the-tube and opposite to that that `is in communication with the drum.

munication with the end of the drum opposite to'that which communicates with the furnace, the other end portion of said tube projecting from the drum and extending through the furnace, and means for feeding the material into the latter end lof the tube.

3. In a drying apparatus of the character set forth, the combination with a furnace, of a hood spaced therefrom, an open-ended revoluble drum located between the furnace and hood, and having its ends respectively inserted thereinto, a plurality of material conducting tubes, located lon itudinally within and rotatable with the rum, said tubes at oneend communicating with the interior of the hood, and at the other end projecting from the drum and extending through 'the furnace, and means for feeding material into the latter end of the tubes.

4. In a drying apparatus of the character set forth, the combination with a furnace of a hood spaced'therefrom, an open-ended revoluble drum, located between the furnace and hood, and having its ends respectively in- V serted thereinto, a plurality of material conducting tubes located longitudinally within and rotatable with the drum, said tubes at one end communicating with the interior of the hood, and at the other end projecting from the drum and extending through the furnace,- a feeding chamber common to all of the tubes and connected to the other projecting ends extensively of the furnace, said chamber being revoluble with the drum and tubes, means for feeding material into the chamber, means for carryinv the roducts of combustion away from sai cham er, and means for removing the driedmaterial from l the hood.

5. In a drying apparatus of the character set forth, the combination with a drum, of a plurality of material conveying tubes, extending longitudinally therein, t e cross sectional'area of the s ace within the drum o utside of the tubes, eing substantially equal to the combined cross sectional areas of the tube bores, means for feeding material into the tubes, and meansfor directing a heating medium through the drum, exteriorly of the tubes, and directing such heatin medium from the exterior tothe interior o the tubes after its passage through ,the drum.

6. In a drying apparatus of the character set forth, thecombination with a furnace, of a rotatable drier drum, having one end communicating with the furnace and `receiving the products of combustion therefrom, a material conveying tube located longitudinally within the drum, and 'rotatable therewith, said tube having no direct communication with the furnace but having one end in communication with the end of the drum opposite to that Which communicates with. the furnace, and means for feeding material into the latter end of the tube. y

T. In a drying apparatus of the character set-forth, the combination with a furnace, of

a drum having one end communicating with the furnace and receiving the roducts of combustion therefrom, a plura ity of material conveying tubes extending longitudinally within said drum, means for introducing a heatingy medium into the end of said drum adjacent said furnace eXteriorly of said material conveying tubes, means for conveying said heating medium rearwardly from said furnace interiorly of said drum and exteriorly of said tubes, means for rotating said drum to cause the heating medium to follow a spiral path throughout its rearward journey, substantially as described.

vIn testimony whereof I afix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' RICHARD K. MEADE. Witnesses: e

LESTER C.. HAWK,

CLARENCE Fl FEHNEL. 

